Sound Cloud Sunday – July 12, 2020
Sound Cloud Sunday July 12, 2020
Another day of quarantinis on ice here in Los Angeles, another episode of glorious new indie music from around the globe. Get on our Love Train (tell all the folks in Egypt and Israel too) and listen to our brand of Laurel Canyon Sound with music from Australia, England, Japan, Germany, Canada and our own backyard. Click on the link below to hear the whole show.
Ocean Alley
– Lonely Diamond
Hometown: Northern Beaches, Sydney, Australia
Album: From the album “Lonely Diamond” self-released on June 19.
Review Snippet: From instrumental album opener “Dahlia”, it’s clear that Ocean Alley are going to be doing things a little differently this time around. Leading into the likes of “Tombstone”, the outfit manage to shift expectations immediately; this isn’t going to be a breezy, laid-back record of chilled-out jams, rather, it’s going to showcase their worth as one of Australia’s most accomplished and exciting bands on the scene.
Website: https://oceanalley.com.au/
Seedfolks – We Don’t Belong Here
Hometown: Japan
Album: Self-released single featuring “Nashville” singer Kaylan Loyd.
Review Snippet:
Website: http://seedfolks.jp/
Lisa Marini – Crooked Circle
Hometown: London
Album: From the album “Born In Tribes” released July 3.
Review Snippet: Lisa Marini is mixed-race Londoner with a deep, dark, silkily prowl of a voice that conjures an intoxicating cocktail of Nina Simone, Eartha Kitt and Amy Winehouse
Website: https://lisamarini.com/
Rev. J. Mikhael Smith and The Brimstone Miracle – 10:18
Hometown: Tennessee
Album: From the ep “Dogwood Winter” out July 24.
Review Snippet: Singer-Songwriter, Josh Smith, began playing his songs with his band, Handsome and the Humbles in early 2014, creating a sound that has been described as “Garage Americana” and compared to Jason Isbell, John Mellencamp, and Uncle Tupelo. His songs, which are inspired by the people he’s met and stories he’s heard while growing up in East Tennessee, aim to introduce elements of Appalachian/southern culture that may cause the listener to think, “There’s more to those people than I thought.”
Website: https://www.joshsmithsongs.com/bio
The Brummies – Sunshine
Hometown: Birmingham, AL
Album: New single released July 10 on Sandbox Records.
Review Snippet: Members count the Beatles, Elton John, ELO, Blitzen Trapper and My Morning Jacket among their influences, but also have an affinity for sweeping film soundtracks. Their trademark sound evokes the psych-rock vibe of the Sixties and the soft indie-folk of the Nineties, yet possesses a timeless quality all its own.
Website: https://www.thebrummies.com/
Findlay Brown – When I’m With You
Hometown: Copenhagen
Album: From the ep “Lady Of My Song” released on Nettwerk on July 3.
Review Snippet: Swathed in strings and decorated with this acoustic guitar playing that could be straight out of Paul Simons songbook, Brown delivers this love song with his beautifully understated vocal, that brings memories of Tim Buckley, Nick Drake and the like, with its soft, unbearably fragile indie-folk.
Website: https://www.findlaybrown.com/
Grain Thief – Gasoline
Hometown: Boston
Album: New single self-released July 3.
Review Snippet: The sound and vibe of this track is also a solid representation of the music to come on their upcoming album. With a flowing violin line and a driving guitar and mandolin part, the three male voices introduce the melody. The steady pulse from Harmon is off-set by band hits to create interest. Meyer’s mandolin solo pulls from the theme and the bluegrass tradition. Barstow’s violin solo has a nice mixture of double-stops and melody-rich single lines. Grain Thief has a sound that is stirring through a song form that is both traditional and expansive.
Website: https://grainthief.com/
Jesse Lynn Madera – 72HVN
Hometown: Nashville
Album: From the ep “Fortunes” released April 20 on Big Fat Dress
Review Snippet: With an astounding ability to blend pop, Americana, jazz, and soul Jesse Lynn Madera defies genre with her new EP Fortunes. Madera’s lyrical and piano-driven songs are passionate and alluring, with a dramatic, ethereal, and almost otherworldly tone. Evoking comparisons to the shapeshifting brilliance of Kate Bush and the confessional pop sensibilities of Tori Amos, Jesse Lynn Madera bestows great Fortunes on the listener.
Website: http://www.jesselynnmadera.com/
Eastern Rain – Got Tall Pines
Hometown: Hamburg, Germany
Album: New single.
Review Snippet:
Website: https://easternrain.bandcamp.com/
Sawyer Fredericks – 4 Pockets
Hometown: Newtown, CT
Album: From the album “Flowers for You” released May 1 on Windrake.
Review Snippet: While he pushes a bravado of blues guitar admirably Sawyer Fredericks continues to refine his music confidently. Sawyer sings in his signature lilting-gruff style. However, if listeners expect the mannered vocal intonation of Al Wilson (Canned Heat), the gritty dynamic of Johnny Winter, the deep tone of John Campbell, or near-Dylan of Mason Ruffner – they won’t find it here.
Sawyer vocally scrapes the rim of Shuggie Otis & the 70s wonder-kid Danny Peck (“This Could Be a Real Nice Place”). Sawyer’s vivid blues tone is resplendent at times, a well-defined style. But lyrics strain to be bluesy. They’re not tapered to a true blues interpretation & not faithful to the genre in a traditional sense. The vocals at times fall into falsetto (“I Am to Blame”) — not usually an effective necessity in the blues toolbox. B.B. King is the blues, Prince is not.
Website: https://easternrain.bandcamp.com/
Zoe Nutt – That’s What It Takes
Hometown: Tennessee
Album: New single released June 26.
Review Snippet: Nutt’s excitement to release this single, transfers into the musical style and instrumentation of the song. Which includes pop-centric vocals and melodies, elevated with horn accents and sweeping background vocal harmonies that outline the unique twang in Nutt’s voice, adding a little Americana-Folk flair to an otherwise pop tune.
Website: https://www.zoenutt.com/
Dylan Menzie – Lost In Dreams
Hometown: Bell River Prince Edward Island, Canada
Album: From the album “Lost In Dreams” self-released May 22.
Review Snippet: Dylan Menzie has taken his knack for writing emotional love songs and has turned it into a full-length album on his latest effort. His ability to speak on love aboard so many different vehicles including dance-inducing funk songs to stripped-down intimate ballads shows off his extensive versatility in the tracklist on Lost in Dreams. This album is a lifeline for hopeless and hopeful romantics alike.
Website: http://www.dylanmenzie.com/
Market Junction – Out Of Love
Hometown: Boston, MA
Album: From the album “Burning Bridges” to be released August 7.
Review Snippet: The album features the kind of deft songwriting that has earned Parrish and guitarist/keyboardist Justin Lofton accolades since the band’s debut album, Heroes Have Gravestones, in 2012. Between the two of them, they have won or placed as finalists in every songwriting competition they have ever entered, totaling around a dozen or so, including the 2019 Southwest Folk Alliance Showcase Artist.
Website: https://marketjunction.net/home
Evening Hymns – Heavy Nights
Hometown: Ontario, Canada
Album: From the album “Heavy Nights” released June 26 on Shuffling Feet Records.
Review Snippet: Heavy Nights is a transitional album. It’s a bit less straightforward than the band’s early releases, in that sometimes there is the sense it does not have a focal point or a direction. This is appropriate, however, given the way the song’s address life’s transitions.
Website: http://www.eveninghymns.com/
Red River Dialect – Front Row
Hometown: Cornwall, UK
Album: From the EP “Overabundance” out July 3 on Paradise of Bachelors Records.
Review Snippet: Drawing on late ’60’s British folk-rock and psychedelic music, this is a quiet and desperate record that is always but a squall away from breaking apart. It would all be unrelenting if Tender Gold weren’t so damn pretty.
Website: http://www.redriverdialect.com/
